A remote Arctic facility, promoted by PM Stephen Harper as a world-class research station, is less about pure science, and almost entirely about pushing oil, gas and mining development in the rapidly melting north, says top polar climate scientist.

Facing criticism in the lead up to the U.N. Climate Summit, which prime minister Stephen Harper did not attend, the Harper Government released a new public outreach campaign through Environment Canada, praising the country's action on climate change.

Canadian Environment Minister Aglukkaq set aside a proposal from her department earlier this year to state that the Harper Regime recognized scientific evidence that humans were "mostly responsible for climate change" and that it took the issue seriously.

In June 2013, the University of Victoria released a report cataloging "systematic efforts by the Government of Canada to obstruct the right of the media -- and through them, the Canadian public -- to timely access to government scientists."

The New York Times editorial board is taking the Canadian government to task for allegedly silencing publicly funded scientists, a strategy the Times says is designed to ensure tar sands production proceeds quietly.

Three weeks ago, York University librarian John Dupuis posted a story in his personal blog, which aimed to show what he called the Conservative government's "campaign to undermine evidence-based scientific, environmental and technical decision-making."

Attitudes and willful blindness form the basis of federal government policy as expressed by our federal Minister of Natural Resources, and that it is a sign of negligent disregard for the public interest. It is unacceptable.